. >>> iran says it will respond decisively to any act of transgression. it comes after the pentagon says two iranian fighter jets shot the a u.s. drone aircraft. it happened last thursday in international air space east of kuwait, 16 miles off the coast of iran. at the time the predator drone with his on a routine maritime surveillance mission. pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins us now. could this be considered an act of war? >> the pentagon spokesman george little was asked that yesterday and he deferred. he said he wouldn't go there. look, make no mistake, carol, this raises tensions in the persian gulf, doesn't it? bullets flying through the air. this is not what anyone wants to see in this vital oil shipping lane area. the iranians this morning saying they will respond to any further transgressions. the u.s. insisting it was in international air space, routine surveillance mission. i think the question is, what happens if this does happen again? you know, nobody really knows. will the iranians take more aggressive action? will the u.s. military respond? it's very concern

to the investigation that exposed the patreaus affair. general allen has said, he's told the pentagon, that he hasn't done anything to wrong and you know he's obviously up for this promotion. you know him very well. i met him in afghanistan last year. he's incredibly respected among his peers. what do we make of these e-mails, first of all? >> reporter: well, we don't know what they actually contain. we know that some of these 20,000, 30,000 documents -- behind me there's a protest -- 20,000, 30,000 documents may be examined in case they contain inappropriate conduct by the general. nothing proven at this point. obviously serious enough that it's referred to department of defense inspector general to examine it. we don't know quite what this holds for his future. as you say, very respected by the men around him. a man with an incredible difficult task winding down the war. and a man of course who inspired great loyalty in those who served around him. i recall one aide who served through iraq plab many times, didn't want to go back to the battlefield but would if john allen asked. he d

unmanned u.s. drone. the incident happened last thursday in the persian gulf. the pentagon says two iranian fighter jets fired on the u.s. predator surveillance drone. the drone was not hit and returned to its base. now iranian news agency quotes a top iranian military official is saying his country took decisive action against the drone. another top iranian general tells the news agency "if any foreign planes try to enter our country's space, our armed forces will confront it." the pentagon insists the drone was in international airspace east of kuwait. now, the pentagon spokesperson asked -- was asked if this attack amounts to an act of war. here's what he said. >> i'm not going to get into legal labels. the -- we have a wide range to protect our assets and the forces in the region, and we'll do so when necessary. we have communicated to the iranians that we will continue to conduct surveillance flights over international waters over the arabian gulf insistent with longstanding practice. >> barbara starr broke the story, and she joins us live from the pentagon. barbara, we know la

unarmed u.s. predator drone. we're hearing it happened last week. barbara starr is at the pentagon for us with this exclusive report. barbara, tell us what you know. >> reporter: new military tensions now with iran. cnn has learned it was last thursday just one week ago that two iranian su-25, old russian fighter jets they operate flew out in to the persian gulf in to international air space and fired on a u.s. air force predator drone, an unmanned drone in international air space that the pentagon insists conducting routine all toe classified maritime surveillance. the iranian air force hit the drone. the drone was able to return to base in that region. but this does raise some serious new tensions with iran. it was, of course, just a few days before the presidential election. here in the united states. officials that we have talked to confirming it after we questioned them say they just don't know at this point what the iranians were up to. just out to cause trouble or trying to bring down that u.s. drone, brooke. >> this is clearly raising tensions as you point out. could this b

afghanistan, the top commander john allen is himself the subject of a pentagon investigation of allegedly inappropriate communications with jill kelley. yes, that jill kelley, we're talking about the same tampa housewife whom david petraeus' then mistress paula broadwell apparently saw as rival. a whole new chapter in a saga that since last friday has been one bombshell after another. and so far, all of them have something to do with kelley. she's a volunteer military liaison at the air force base, home of the u.s. central command in tampa, florida. kelley complained to the fbi last spring when paula broadwell was having an affair with petraeus allegedly harassed her with jealous e-mails. petraeus admitted the affair with broadwell but denies any elicit contact with kelley. so does general allen who was scheduled for a senate confirmation hearing this very week to become nato's supreme allied commander. today that's on hold, but he will continue in his position as the investigation continues. and all of that as the pentagon digs through 20,000 to 30,000 pages of e-mails and other communic

pentagon for reaction. chris lawrence what what can you tell me about this. >> people are shocked and surprised. really couldn't believe it when they heard the news. you know, daivd petraeus has been married to his wife holly almost since he graduated from west point so many years ago. they have two years ago. holly has been an outspokened a ve kate for the troops. she sort of waded in to political waters at times on behalf of the troops. president obama invoked her name where richard cordray when his nomination held up by members of congress he invoked holly's name and cited her saying she's been working to make sure our armed forces personnel aren't taken advantage of. in fact, when daivd petraeus returned from iraq four years ago, he said, he called holly the greatest source of support, wise council and love that any soldier could have. it seemed to be a rock-solid marriage to everyone who saw it from afar. >> apparently not. chris lawrence, do me a favor. stand by. we have suzanne kelly standing by who broke the news. wolf blitzer, let me bring you in. i'm sure you have spoken to

and has done an excellent job, at eye save and i would refer you to the pentagon for the process under way with regards to general allen. >> all right. right now let's get to the heart of general allen's reported troubles, his relationship with jill kelley. cnn's nick payton walsh just spoke with a senior official who is close to general allen. nick, this official is certain he's claiming that there was no affair between kelley and the general. is that correct? >> reporter: absolutely. not even that there wasn't just an affair, there was not anything of romantic nature between them. absolutely clear his mind he views jill kelley as a bored socialite who many times knew lots of the commanders at centcom because of her role there as an honorary ambassador, organizing social events, but absolutely clear that the e-mail exchange between jill kelley and john allen were innocuous most of the time. at some point john allen may say to her, thanks, sweetheart, that's purely in this source's opinion because he's from virginia and that's a colloquialism many people might use from that area

each of these players in a scandal that seems to grow more bizarre by the day. first stop, pentagon and cnn's chris lawrence. so, chris, what specifically are investigators looking for in those messages? morality aside, how serious of a concern is an extramarital affair? >> it's very serious in the military. you're talking about an active duty officer, carol. and under the uniform code of military justice, you can be prosecuted for adultery. john allen is a married, fo four-star general who has been running the war in afghanistan. he had already flown from afghanistan here to washington. that's how quickly all of this broke down. he was already here in washington just 48 hours away from starting his senate confirmation hearing to perhaps become the head of nato. now that this has all broken, secretary panetta has gone to the president and asked that his nomination be put on hold. they're still keeping him as the head of nato because they've got another confirmation hearing for allen's successor. but right now this has really thrown the whole plan of succession into a state of flux r

resignation also in just a few minutes. >>> with the election over, the pentagon has released the time line on the attack of the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. four americans were killed in the assault. the hour-by-hour timeline shows how top pentagon officials were informed on the attack hours after it started. the white house has been criticized to their response on the attack. >>> and guilty of liking vatican secrets to the media. a vatican court today gave the computer expert a two-month suspended sentence, meaning he wouldn't actually be going to prison unless he commits another offense. butler is serving 18 months behind bars. >>> and the united nations has declared today malala day, after the incident with a pakistani girl whose bravery has inspired the world. malala yousufzai was shot in the head by taliban militants, just for saying girls should be able to go to school. malala is recovering at a british hospital. and in this video, her father is showing her some of the get-well letters that have poured in. >>> first, there was sandy. then a nor'easter, residents in the northeast,

fact, a historical election for them. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has more on the veterans ready to take their seat in congress. >> reporter: republican tom cotton, a veteran of iraq and afghanistan, was one of the big winners tuesday. seizing the fourth congressional district seat in arkansas. >> although i don't know what committee i'll be assigned to ultimately, i wernl want to play a central role in helping to guide america's foreign policy in the next congress. >> reporter: cotton, a law school graduate, was in the 101st airborne division. nine veterans from these wars have just won congressional seats, seven republicans and two democrats. >> this is definitely a historical election for the iraq and afghanistan veterans. there are going to be more in the next congress, twice as many in the next congress as there are currently. >> reporter: seth lynn has a program training veterans running for office. he says that iraq and afghanistan veterans may finally have found their political voice. >> and i think that a lot of people have come home, really established themselves

wife, who until now has been seen by many as the woman behind the man. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr spent some time with holly petraeus. barbara, first off, what kind of a woman is holly petraeus? >> well, as a correspondent covering military affairs, i have run into mrs. petraeus professionally. she is a formidable woman, and quite an expert in her own right, ted. she works in the area of consumer finance protection for military families. she worked for a long time for the better business bureau. now works inside the federal government and her area is predatory lending, financial practices, financial health for young military families. this is something i've talked to her about. this is something she is an expert in. she a few weeks ago gave a briefing here in the pentagon to the press corps. she may not be known much outside of washington, but inside the circle of military families, very, very highly respected. >> yeah, i read today she was one of those generals' wives that was accessible and part of the regular folks living day to day. today we heard that david petr

pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara, adultery can be a crime in the military but it is not in the cia. it can, however, be a risky, risky endeavor. are there any indications at this point that our national security was threatened in the petraeus case? >> well, ashleigh, so far there is no indication of that but the facts have not come out in public. earlier today retired general james "spider "marks who broadwell once worked for and knows petraeus addressed this very question. >> there's absolutely almost zero percent chance that national security was compromised or was at risk. now, clearly, based on an initial investigation, there might have been classified documents that were found on her laptop. again, that might be more procedural than it is a large risk. so that needs to be looked into and that needs to be put aside so you can end that discussion and frankly you can let dave petraeus and paula go on with their lives because frankly the cia is going to be okay. >> look, by all accounts, broadwell, a reservist in the military, also had a security clearance. so if she ha

yesterday that sounded very confident that once he feels like people review the pentagon inspector general ends up reviewing the e-mails, they'll find there's nothing egregrious there. that may end up being the case. you're seeing a defense secretary now sort of cast a wide net and send aid very clear message that if this kind of thing is going on among other flag officers, senior officers, that it needs to be fixed immediately. >> so i think, suzanne, one of the things so many people have been astounded at when the they hear about two four-star generals involved is the access that these women, jill kelley and paula broadwell seemed to have to them. have they had their wings clipped? >> well, this is such a fascinating discussion in so many different directions you can take on it. it was great reporting from kyra phillips that you just played a few minutes ago. there are still some really tough questions even for general petraeus. he didn't come public about this. he didn't come clean. he didn't start apologizing till after he was caught. i think we do have to offer a little bit of pushbac

chief white house correspondent jessica yellin, pentagon correspondent barbara starr and senior congressional correspondent dana bash on capitol hill in a moment. first, an israeli strike on gaza today kills the military chief of hamas and threatens to usher in a wider confrontation. at this hour, hamas is vowing to strike back and israelis say israeli ground troops are poised to enter gaza if ordered. the israeli strike killed ahmad al jabbary and his driver and in addition to his role as military chief, al jabbary was one of hamas' founders. the strike followed a surge of rocket attacks from hamas controlled gaza into southern israel. those attacks have wounded about a dozen israeli civilians since saturday. cnn's sara sidner is joining us now from jerusalem. sa sara, this appears to be on the brink of a crisis. is it? >> reporter: yeah. i mean i think we are on the brink of what could be a full scale operation by israel and reaction from hamas and the other militant groups inside of gaza. this all started back on thursday with the death of a 13-year-old palestinian boy, which

libya? barbara starr is at the pentagon. barbara, general petraeus was to be a primary witness in that closed door hearing. what now? >> well, by all accounts he will not appear at this week's hearing. the man who will is mike morrell, his deputy and ci airks, now essentially the acting director of the agency. mr. morrell, a highly respected intelligence professional, has been with the agency for many, many years. would know all the same information that david petraeus knows. but the question on the table, carol, is whether that's going to be politically enough for congress. are they so irritated about this entire matter that they will subpoena petraeus in the weeks ahead and compel him to come testify about what he knows about the benghazi attacks? >> barbara starr reporting live for us at the pentagon this morning. this affair is baffling on so many levels. how could a man with such a pristine reputation show such awful judgment? and how could this woman have such unprecedented access? the answer may be as simple as one slippery step at a time. listen to these comments from gene

that's got to be balanced. it has to include revenues and squeezing the pentagon a bit and obviously, maybing some entitlement reforms. if the leap adership an preside can negotiate that, that's great, but the worst option would be if they failed to negotiate and i'm a real skeptic, then the worst thing we could do is change the date from january 1 to say august or september. that would send a terrible signal to the markets. congress once again dodging its responsibilities and our responsibilities to come up with something that's durable and sustainable. if january 1 comes then, it's not so much a cliff as it is a slope. we would be under enormous pressure to come up with that balanced deal, so my view is much better for us to get a good, durable deal that is achieved before and after january 1. >> so, congressman, you know, i never want to hear the term fiscal which i have again. i mean, the election sent a mandate. we want something done. >> you're right about that and if the leadership and the president are able to negotiate and we get it done, that would be the best thing. but yo

david petraeus to resign as director of the cia. barbara starr joins us from the pentagon. not just petraeus but other cases that i guess have precipitated panetta's response. right? >> reporter: absolutely, fredericka. of course, general john allen, the commander in afghanistan under review, investigation for sending potentially inappropriate e-mails, two other four-stars just went through investigations for irregularities in the travel and expense accounts. a number of lesser if there's such a thing of generals and admirals also in recent months under investigation for variety of things, so panetta's issued an order saying that he wants the joint chiefs of staffs to look at ethic training for senior nil tear leaders. what are we talking about here? basically, you know, don't cheat on your wife. don't cheat on your taxes. don't go get too drunk in public. you know? and don't cheat on your expense account. you think it's the blinding flash of the obvious, wouldn't you? but we have talked to a number of officials say panetta is just very aware of the public perception right now and h

a very live and rolling show. let me go to barbara starr at the pentagon now. >>> the group had fighters at the consulate compound that night and he gets a lot of intelligence the video, the anti-islamic video may have sparked some of the activity outside the consulate, but that is all disproved we're told and the problem is they aren't able to really disprove or toss out the notion that the video had a lot to do with it into well after he briefed congress on september 14th well after u.n. ambassador susan rice made her comment. there was a lot of murkiness and a moving train if you will. >> thank you. also something to consider as well, to that end we'll speak with general spider marks later on in the program to see what his take is to piece together information when you do have something like a war zone developing. that's coming up ahead. a whole lot more from the white house all in a moment. you know, i was once used for small jobs. yeah, and i took on all the bigger, tougher ones. but now that mr. clean's got this new select-a-size magic eraser, i mean, he can take on any si

for the pentagon to react. it just isn't. i've been in those situations. you have to have the pieces in place before you can respond. i've heard the stories about laser designators and they could have called in air support. listen, to use military forces inside an independent country, a volatile one at that, takes, you know, weeks of planning in advance. somebody did drop the ball. but i just don't believe the thing that the military could have responded, could have sent f-16s down there to hit the targets. it takes a long time to set that up. >> when all is said and done, do we have the case of a watergate style cover-up here or do we just need the answers to some questions? >> david petraeus has those answers. he is out of the cia now. if he sits down and tells the truth as he knows it, doesn't shave off the edges, we will get our answers. and congress will, too. we take it from the next step. but somebody, i'm sorry, should be fired for benghazi. should have closed that place down. >> robert baer, former cia operative. thank you so much for joining us today. >>> in the next

folks, it's a love pentagon. >> unbelievable. jimmy kimmel said it could inspire a new tv show called "cia smackdown." you got to shake your head, don. can't make it up. >> thank you, suzanne. great weekend to you. i'm don lemon. brooke is off today. developing right now, a disturbing report on iran and concerns about its nuclear program under ground. it is bound to set off alarm bells in the west. plus, two people are missing after an oil platform explodes in the gulf of mexico, but first the bloody fight we're going to get to between israel and gaza. hamas aims rockets at jerusalem and they miss. but the fact hamas is going after what israel considers its capital city shows how much pressure is building in the middle east right now. i want you to listen to this. so an i reporter captured air raid sirens going off in jerusalem. hamas, the group that controls gaza, landed south of jerusalem. more rockets aimed for tel aviv ende in the water. no reports of damagen either case, though. but officials say 27 palestinians have died since weesday from israel's strike in gaza. this is